Category: membership

Last Call for Cooperative Seed Order


This is the last call for joining in our Skookum Bulk Seed Project for 2012. More information can be found in a post I put out on January 15th.

I Heart Seeds

IMPORTANT: FEB. 14 at noon is the cut-off for Skookum’s Seed order for 2012!

  • Please note that we have 29 types of seeds available at 25% discount if we manage to get 10 packets of any particular variety. These are seeds you will likely NOT find at Seedy Saturday (except from seed vendors at full price).
  • We need to cooperatively order at least 10 packets of any single kind of seed to proceed with the ordering of that seed variety. If we have fewer than 10 orders of any variety, we will not get the 25% discount from our local supplier (Eternalseed.ca),and we will not order that variety.
  • I know that many of you have already made plans to buy seeds using your usual method, but it would help a lot if you considered buying even a few seed varieties through this service Skookum is offering, as an order of fewer than 10 packets will not go through, thus affecting others’ orders.
  • See which seeds have been ordered by clicking here. If you can possibly contribute to this project by topping up the seed varieties that are close to 10 packets right now (maybe an investment of $3-$5), this would be helpful (plus you do get the seeds after all, at a 25% discount over retail)
  • Want to order some seeds? Look at the varieties and descriptions on offer here.  Email Giovanni(at)rabideye(dot)com with the variety name and number of packets you want, and I will get back to you.

Skookum’s Celebratory Social

A look at the Skookum Social (Jan 31, 2012)

The members of Skookum Food Provisioners’ Cooperative gathered at Trinity Hall in Powell River on January 31 2012 to celebrate our first public gathering for 2012, the United Nations International Year of the Cooperative. The salad/dessert pot-luck event attracted over 30 of our 101 members. The meal was centred around Jacqueline Huddleston’s delicious risotto and quiche dishes, and graciously emceed by member Alison Taplay. A special gift basket was awarded in absentia to Nansi McKay and Nancy Tyler (members #100 and 101), and presentations by Wendy Pelton, coordinator of The Abundant Pantry Bulk-Buying Project and by directors David Parkinson and Giovanni Spezzacatena provided lots of news about what’s going on with our cooperative.

Here is some of what we talked about:

    • Alison talked about 2012 Year of the Cooperative, and set up an informal agenda for the evening, ending with a call for ideas on new projects and for helping hands to organize and implement existing ones;
    • Wendy Pelton gave us a major update on The Abundant Pantry Bulk-Buying Club, which is about to be launched;
    • Giovanni Spezzacatena talked briefly about the Bulk Seed Project (deadline Feb 14, 2012), and on Skookum Members’ Survey Results;
    • The Skookum Community Bookshelf was introduced: this is a Skookum Cooperative initiative by Director Sharon Deane and Melissa Leigh where members may donate books that they feel would be appropriate to cooperative member use to this project housed in Kingfisher Used Books. A dedicated bookshelf will be set up letting only Skookum members borrow these materials. Contact Sharon at the store for more information;
    • David Parkinson reported on the Skookum Gleaners project. The upshot is that key Skookum members have devoted a lot of time and effort to this community project, to little benefit to the cooperative, while other projects more in tune with our purposes have suffered. The board of Skookum has voted to let this project go, but encourage members to reach out to us if they want to pursue this project outside of the cooperative;
    • David also briefly introduced the concept of a Community Orchard that may prove to be the evolution of Gleaners. Please reach him if you have an interest in this up-coming project.

A couple of items that got a little lost in the fray, but we’ll pick up on these in future posts and gatherings:

    •  Skookum co-presents the feature documentary film How to Make a Farm) at Powell River Film Festival;
    • Skookum’s board wants to set up a Project Selection and Development Team to help in selecting viable projects from member proposals, and guide the process;
    • We want to set up a crack team that will be focused on Fundraising Events, to help fund Skookum projects, and to engage members; contact Giovanni if you are interested.

Looking for members

The board of the Skookum Food Provisioners’ Cooperative reminds you that our first general meeting and board election is coming soon: Wednesday June 23, 7:00 PM at Vancouver Island University in Powell River.

In order to attend and vote at this general meeting, you will need to have been accepted as a member by May 24, which is the so-called ‘record date’ of membership. (The law requires that a member be accepted no less than 30 days before a general meeting in order to attend and vote.)

If you are interested in attending the general meeting as a member in good standing, please take a few minutes to download the application form, fill it out, attach $20 for one membership share, and return it by mail to the address on the form (4486 Marine Ave. Powell River, BC, V8A 2K2); or hand-deliver it to Kingfisher Books on Marine Ave. in Powell River.

If you have any questions about membership in the cooperative, please feel free to contact us.

First ever public meeting of the Skookum Food Provisioners’ Cooperative

On Tuesday April 27, 2010, we held our first public information meeting to let folks know what we’ve been up to since November and to have a discussion of some of the projects we’re already working on or might take on. Thank you to everyone who showed up!

We presented some basic information about cooperatives, their values and principles; and about the (not-for-profit) community service cooperative model, which is how we chose to incorporate.

Some interesting questions came up from the people who came out for the meeting, and we’ll be working on addressing some of these concerns.

Our first ever general meeting will be held at Vancouver Island University on Wednesday June 23 at 7:00 PM.

According to the laws that regulate cooperatives in BC, only those members whose applications have been accepted on or before May 24, 2010 will be permitted to vote at this general meeting. Anyone who wants to apply for membership should print out and complete our membership application form. Attach $20 in cash or cheque payable to Skookum Food Provisioners’ Cooperative (or SFPC) and mail it to the address on the form. Or you can drop it off at Kingfisher Books on Marine Ave. in Powell River. Membership in the cooperative earns you the right to vote, become a director, and participate in decision-making and in our projects (including all the food preserving and processing we hope to do this year).

Our rules permit two people to take out a joint membership. Joint members will have only one vote. Only one joint member can become a director at any one time. Joint members will be able to participate in projects of the cooperative as though they were a single member. If you have questions about this or any other aspect of the Skookum Food Provisioners’ Cooperative, please contact me or any other director.

We hope that you will consider becoming a member so that you can participate in the upcoming general meeting, and especially so that you can contribute your knowledge, skills, passion, and energy to this new cooperative.

Thank you!